Under its National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems (NM-ICPS), the Department of Science and Technology (DST) has sanctioned Rs 7.25 crore to IIT Mandi to establish a Technology Innovation Hub (TIH) at the Institute.

The major focus of the TIH in IIT Mandi will be on human-computer interaction (HCI) research, where projects will focus on design and development of computer technology (interfaces) and the study of interaction between humans (users) and computers.

Also, the TIH will focus on human resource and skill development, entrepreneurship and collaboration with other leading institutions.

HCI is focused on the ways in which humans interact with computers and design technologies that let humans interact with computers in novel ways. As a field of research, HCI is situated at the intersection of computer science, behavioural sciences, design, and media studies among others.

IIT Mandi Principal Investigator, TIH Varun Dutt said the TIH provides exciting opportunities for IIT Mandi to become a world leader in HCI and allied areas, where national research has been nascent.

A team of experienced faculty of IIT Mandi will participate in the establishment of the TIH.

Apart from older faculty, newly joined faculty members at the Institute will also be a part of the TIH. Together, the Institute faculty will provide intellectual expertise on research in HCI with inputs from Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning areas, he added.

Arnav Bhavsar, Co-Principal Investigator, TIH said in line with the culture at IIT Mandi of collaborative research and nurturing entrepreneurship, the TIH will further enable significant strides by the institute in industry collaboration and in the development of indigenous technology.

“The TIH will develop tools, education material, hands-on experiments with specialised tool kits, connecting with existing innovation ecosystems.

It will inter-link with different stakeholders and connect with other initiatives of the Government of India by providing an innovation platform for schools, colleges and advanced technical training institutes in the targeted areas,” he added.

It is worthwhile to mention here that Cyber Physical Systems (CPS) are a new class of engineered systems that integrate computation and physical processes in a dynamic environment.

CPS encompasses technology areas of Cybernetics, Mechatronics, Design and Embedded systems, Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data, Artificial Intelligence (AI) among others.

To harness the potential of this new wave of technology and make India a leading player in CPS, the Union Cabinet approved the launch of National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems (NM-ICPS) in 2018, with a total outlay of INR 3,660 crores for a period of five years.